Can I build over an easement?

Key points

• Easements give someone else, often a water authority, rights over part of your land.
• Building over one needs the consent of the authority that owns it.
• Open, lightweight structures with footings clear of the pipes are more likely to be approved.
• Keeping the whole structure, roof included, off the easement and about 1 m clear usually avoids the consent step.
• Easements are shown on your title, not on the ground.

What an easement is

An easement is a right that someone else has over part of your land. For homes, the most common ones are for drainage and sewerage, usually running along the rear or side boundary. The owner of the easement, often a water corporation, council or utility, has the right to access, maintain and replace the pipes or services in it.

Easements are registered on your title. You still own the land, but you can't build in a way that gets in the way of the easement holder's rights without their agreement.

Can you build over one?

Sometimes, with consent. Building over an easement is not automatically banned, but it needs the approval of the authority that owns it. That authority is mostly concerned with:

• Access. Can they still reach their pipes for maintenance and emergencies?
• Load. Will footings or slabs put weight on, or damage, the pipes below?
• Liability. Who pays if the structure has to be removed or damaged to access the pipes?

Lightweight, open structures with footings kept clear of the pipes are more likely to get consent than a slab-based shed sitting directly over a sewer line. Some authorities also require consent for building within a set distance of their pipes, even outside the easement itself.

Victoria

In Victoria, a building surveyor can't issue a permit for building work over an easement vested in a council or public authority unless that authority has given its consent. The application goes to the relevant authority, often the water corporation for sewer and drainage easements, and they may approve it with conditions, such as keeping footings a set distance from the pipe or accepting responsibility for removal.

This consent is one of the extra approvals we quote up front for Victorian permits. See permits in Victoria.

Queensland

In Queensland, building over or near relevant infrastructure, such as sewers, water mains and stormwater, has specific requirements under the Queensland Development Code, and the infrastructure owner may need to agree to the work. Registered easements on the title also need the consent of the party who holds them.

In practice, your certifier checks for both: whether the structure is over or near infrastructure, and whether it sits within a registered easement. See approvals in Queensland.

What usually gets approved

Each authority sets its own conditions, but some patterns are common:

• Footings outside the easement, with the structure cantilevered or spanning over it.
• Open structures such as verandahs and carports rather than enclosed sheds.
• No slab over the pipe, or a slab designed to be broken out.
• Agreement to remove the structure at the owner's cost if access is needed.

Ways to avoid the consent step

If your design touches an easement, ask whether it needs to:

• Move the structure off the easement, even by a small amount.
• Shorten it so the back edge stops before the easement.
• Relocate the posts so footings stay clear of the easement. A roof that still overhangs the easement generally needs consent, but keeping the footings out often makes consent easier to get.

Moving or shortening the structure so no part of it, including the roof, sits over the easement can avoid the consent step. Some authorities also control building close to their pipes, so we recommend staying at least 1 m clear where you can, and the boundary setback rules still apply. See boundary setbacks explained.

Easements you can't see

Not every pipe sits in a registered easement. Older lots often have sewer or stormwater lines running through the backyard without an easement on the title, and some services run close to a boundary. In Queensland in particular, building over or near this infrastructure has its own rules even where there is no easement. Asset maps from your water authority or council show where the pipes are.

Check before you buy

Easements are one of the most common surprises in a permit application, because they aren't visible on the ground. Run the free check to see your structure on your real lot. When we prepare your application, the site plan is drawn from the title so every easement is shown, and if consent is needed we quote it and handle it with your agreement.